HEDGEHOGS IN YOUR GARDEN?

How to provide for these much-loved mammals – Nature:

One might have thought the hedgehog the least lovable of our mammals: podgy, pointy-faced and covered in spines. And yet there is something undeniably cute about them.

From their docile nature and rotund build to their dark snout, bright eyes and party trick of rolling up in a prickly ball, these idiosyncratic insectivores, popularised by Beatrix Potter as Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, have undeniable appeal.

The fact that hedgehogs have won a place in our hearts has helped garner support for their conservation – and they need all the friends they can get. A victim of traffic collisions and habitat changes, we come across them far less often these days, dead or alive.

I was putting some tools away in the garden shed the other evening when I heard a strange huffing sound coming from beside the hedge.

Normally one would be alarmed by such a strange noise after dark, but I recognised it as one I had heard several weeks before, and as I played my torch over the area my suspicions were confirmed: two hedgehogs facing one another, seemingly oblivious to my presence.

It was exactly the same scene that had taken me by surprise in mid-July when I came across a courting pair – the noisier and larger of the two, which I took to be the male, making a wheezy, snorting noise as he circled the other repeatedly.

However, this time around the larger hedgehog was obviously not impressing the other, and after a brief stand-off they parted company and headed off for the night.

While the main breeding ‘rut’ occurs in May and June, hedgehogs are fairly promiscuous and reproduce any time between April and September. That said, it is already probably a bit late in the year to be thinking about raising more young – especially with the need to put on weight ahead of the colder months ahead.

I am always delighted to know that my garden plays host to hedgehogs and there will be many readers who enjoy regular back garden visits from these nocturnal mammals – and many who are not certain whether they have them at all.

A good way to tell whether your garden is visited is if you spot any droppings. They are quite distinctive, being black, cylindrical and a few centimetres long, often containing insect parts.

I have noticed quite a few droppings on my lawn in recent months, especially in the area where I scattered bird seed for the resident sparrows – some of the grains obviously to the taste of hedgehogs.

Hedgehogs will come to a variety of foods – but they are lactose intolerant, so a saucer of milk will do them no good at all, while bread offers little of nutritional value.

According to the informative Hedgehog

Street website, what they really relish is meat-based wet dog or cat foods, or dry cat/ kitten food, all high in the protein that they require.

Hedgehogs are insectivores and their natural foods mainly consist of ground beetles, caterpillars, worms and slugs, so feeding should be viewed as merely supplementing their everyday diet.

I invested in a bag of special hedgehog food, similar to cat biscuits, and put some out by the shed at the bottom of the garden a couple of nights ago. Returning an hour later, I heard a crunching sound as I neared, and spotted a hedgehog merrily munching through the offering.

The advice is to place food at a number of separate sites to avoid conflict, given hedgehogs are generally solitary creatures, and to provide a bowl of water.

Of course, if one engages in regular feeding, it is bound to eventually attract a range of nocturnal wildlife, such as foxes and badgers – even the neighbour’s cat. Making it difficult for other scavengers to reach the titbits can help – perhaps hidden within a shelter only accessible by a length of pipe.

As we move into autumn and temperatures drop, hedgehogs will be thinking about a place to spend the colder months. They are one of few UK mammals that hibernate through winter when invertebrate and other food is in short supply, slowing their metabolism to save energy – a survival strategy shared with bats and dormice. Hedgehogs may hibernate at any time between November and March, whenever the temperature becomes and stays low, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they remain in a torpor throughout. During mild weather, hedgehogs can keep active into December, or wake from their slumber as temperatures rise in order to get out and about. Log piles and compost heaps can provide suitable hideaways for hedgehogs, but artificial homes, either bought or homemade, are also used. The advice is to locate hedgehog houses in shady and quiet areas of the garden, and the construction should preferably be of untreated wood and have a tunnel entrance to prevent predators such as foxes and badgers being able to reach them inside.

A 2017 hedgehog ‘housing census’, which attracted more than 5,000 responses, found that 81% of homes put out for hedgehogs were used for daytime resting, 59% for hibernation and 28% for breeding. Of course, they won’t use one at all if they can’t get into your

garden, so people are encouraged to create ‘hedgehog highways’ by ensuring their fences have holes in them or gaps underneath for hedgehogs to pass through. A hole 13cm by 13cm is sufficient for any hedgehog to pass through, but too small for many pets.

Given hedgehogs travel around a mile a night in search of food and a mate, fences can block off their options and are believed to be a factor in the decline of this much-loved species.

According to a 2018 report by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, the UK had lost more than half of its hedgehogs in rural areas and a third from towns and cities in a decade.

Hedgehog Street, which was set up by PTES and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society in 2011 to champion the species’ recovery, said: “The reasons for hedgehog decline are complex. The main contributing factors relate to the amount and quality of habitat available in the rural landscape. Hedgehogs, like other creatures, rely on hedgerows and field margins to forage for food and make nests. With less of both, and with many hedges in poor condition, hedgehogs have fewer safe places to roam.

“Busy roads and more badgers, the main natural predators of hedgehogs, are also factors in areas where hedgehogs have fewer safe places to take refuge, as there is less invertebrate prey for them to feed on.”

A good way to spot hedgehogs is by torchlight at night. Listen for them snuffling and rustling along hedgerows and borders as they forage. Beneath that mound of spines – thick hollow hairs which can number 5-6,000 on adults – their hidden legs are longer than they look, carrying them along at a fair pace when they are on the move.

Now is an excellent time of year to consider providing suitable garden hibernation sites and to look for them foraging after dark, given growing young are also roaming about. Happy hedgehog hunting!

For more information on hedgehogs, to record your sightings and get involved in their conservation, visit: www. hedgehogstreet.org

> Hedgehogs feed on invertebrates, but will eat protein-rich foods put out, such as wet cat food

JRLeyland Hedgehog numbers have halved in rural areas, but have done slightly better in cities, where they can roam through gardens

Thompson Morgan Hedgehogs will use bought or built homes as places in which to sleep during the day, raise young or hibernate. Untreated wood is best